April29, 2015

Mr. Speaker, after ten years in office, City of Humble, Texas Mayor Donnie McMannes will officially bring his stellar public career to an end next month. His tireless efforts have improved our community, and it is with great pleasure that I express my admiration, gratitude and respect to a hometown hero and committed public servant.

Donnie was born in Houston and spent much of his childhood in the Heights area before moving with his mother to Humble in 1945 and attending Charles Bender High School, where he became a football star before graduating in 1953.

After graduating high school, he married his high school sweetheart, Georgia. He was soon drafted into the U.S. Army. His love for football continued while in the service when he played football for the Army in Germany in what was called the Rhine Conference. In 1955, his team went undefeated and won the Rhine Conference Championship.

After completing his service in the Army, Donnie returned home to Texas and to his wife, Georgia. At the age of 23, he joined the City of Houston Police Department.

For 27 years, Donnie put on the badge to protect and serve Houstonians. His long career at HPD included assignments in patrol, investigator, and narcotics. He was promoted to detective in the Burglary and Theft Division, where he served for fourteen years. After retiring from HPD, he continued his career as a Texas lawman, working ten more years for Constable Walter Rankin's Precinct One Constable Office. He is a lifetime member of what I refer to as the ``Poe-leece''--a group of my friends in the Texas law enforcement community.

Donnie is the epitome of civil servant. After officially retiring from law enforcement in 1995, Donnie decided to become more actively involved in local government and ran for the position of Council Member with the City of Humble. He served on the Humble City Council for 10 years. He then decided to run for mayor in 2005 and has spent the last 10 years as its mayor.

Under his leadership, he's overseen many successful projects through the Humble City Council, including bringing the City out of debt and into a surplus. Mayor McMannes has given Humble financial flexibility and the ability to start and complete projects, noting that the projects are always ``paid for by cash.''

Congress could certainly stand to gain from following in Mayor McMannes' commonsense, fiscally responsible footsteps. In addition, working alongside many of his Humble-born and bred friends from the '50s, the City of Humble recently finished managing a total restoration project on the old Charles Bender High School building turning it into the new Charles Bender High School Performing Arts Center. As an alum of Charles Bender High School, this project was close to Mayor McMannes' heart, and appropriately, the new facility is immersed in important memories and milestones in Humble's rich roots.

On behalf of the Second Congressional District, I thank Mayor McMannes for his service and wish him and Georgia nothing but the best in their future endeavors.

As a resident of Humble, I can tell you that his presence in the city government will be missed. As Donnie likes to say, ``I'm Texas born, Texas bred, and I'll be Texas dead right here on Main Street.''